At the conclusion of the daily Question Period in the House of Commons, Belinda Stronach, Liberal MP for the Newmarket-Aurora, rose on a point of order. This excerpt is courtesy of the Question Period “Blues” — which is the ‘rush’ transcript provided by Parliamentary staff. The ‘official’ Hansard transcript may be slightly different:
Hon. Belinda Stronach (Newmarket—Aurora, Lib.) :
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Standing Order 18 reads as follows:
No Member shall speak disrespectfully of the Sovereign, nor of any of the Royal Family, nor of the Governor General or the person administering the Government of Canada; nor use offensive words against either House, or against any Member thereof. No Member may reflect upon any vote of the House, except for the purpose of moving that such vote be rescinded.Yesterday during question period the Minister of Foreign Affairs used a very inappropriate word to describe me. This is not the first time he and his party have revealed their true colours regarding respect for women in politics and how chilling this behaviour is for those women who contemplate entering politics.
For that, Mr. Speaker, I simply ask that the Minister of Foreign Affairs apologize to this House.
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The Speaker :
As I indicated yesterday when this matter was raised, the news of these statements is something that is new to me because I did not hear the comments or see any of the gestures that are alleged to have taken place.My staff have carefully reviewed the audio tapes of question period and the written transcript of Hansard which I myself have seen and of course there is no reference to these words in either. So, I am unable to confirm any of the suggestions that have been made. I know several members say they have heard these remarks.
In the circumstances there is nothing further I can do at this time. Obviously there may be further submissions on this point later.
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Ms. Judy Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North, NDP) :
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. To make matters worse, during question period when I was asking a very serious question about the demeaning and sexist actions of one member of the Conservative benches, a member over here on the back bench of the Conservatives, I believe the member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands was heard to say “stop whining”.I find that offensive and contrary to the spirit of this chamber. It makes a bad situation worse.
I hope now that we will have apologies from this government on all sides, specifically with respect to that remark about whining, when we are raising a very serious matter that affects the women of this country and the members from all sides in this place.* * *
Hon. Jay Hill (Prince George—Peace River, CPC) :
Mr. Speaker, I would state, as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister did on many occasions during question period today, that I think it is incumbent upon all of us and I know that I have worked hard over the past number of months with my whip colleagues from all three of the opposition parties to try and restore some additional decorum to the House and to work with you, Mr. Speaker.Certainly that is the action that we are endeavour to take. I am sure all the other parties would like to see greater decorum in the House. We are committed to that.
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The Speaker :
The opportunities for the Chair to intervene in respect of language used in the House, as hon. members know, are limited. We do enjoy freedom of speech in this House. Members are free to say what they want within fairly wide limits and the Chair enforces those broad limits.The list of language that is unparliamentary is relatively short. Obviously words can be used in ways that are considerably impolite or improper in respect of other members. It may result in intervention by the Chair in certain circumstances.
I caution all hon. members to bear in mind that we do enjoy freedom of speech in this House. Members ought to conduct themselves in ways that are in accordance with the high expectations that Canadians have in members in electing them to serve in this place.
While I cannot hear everything that is said, especially when a lot of people are speaking at one time, I would urge hon. members to show proper caution in their use of language in the House and decent respect to each other because we are all elected to serve in this place, even though we may have differing political opinions.
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Mr. David McGuinty (Ottawa South, Lib.) :
Mr. Speaker, in your remarks a moment ago you said you were not in a position having had your staff examine both the transcript and the audio tape.On this side of the House at least a dozen Liberal members heard the comment. May I respectfully suggest or submit to the Chair that in this case, given the particularly egregious breach of parliamentary conduct by a minister of the Crown, that the tape in question be sent out to a professional audio house, at which point the tape can then be examined more closely and we can actually look more closely to see whether in fact the Minister of Foreign Affairs made the comments when he scurrilously referred to a member of Parliament on this side of the house as a dog.
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The Speaker :
I am getting tired of this one. The hon. member for Mississauga South.* * *
Mr. Paul Szabo (Mississauga South, Lib.) :
Mr. Speaker, in matters where there have been questions of whether or not something occurred, those matters have been referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs where the committee can call persons who would know. Certainly persons sitting in the proximity of the Minister of Foreign Affairs would be able to answer the question on behalf of the House.* * *
The Speaker :
Members can move motions to refer matters to the committee should they choose to do so. It is not for the chair to move motions in this House referring matters to committee. On a question of privilege, I may be able to do so. We have not had a question of privilege in this case. We have had points of order in respect of this case. It would not be for the chair to suggest that motions are the way to resolve those matters. That is not something in my jurisdiction.